What Is Genocide?

The United Nation’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as:

Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical [sic], racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (United Nations, History Place).

Causes of Genocide

What causes genocide? Levinger claims the 20th century is a “century of genocide,” as governments between 1900-1999 killed more than 170 million people. He argues elite leaders were to blame rather than rivalries between ethnic groups; there were costs and benefits for engaging in genocidal activities, and genocide can be stopped through the deployment of integrated approaches (Levinger).

Although the slogan “Never Again” resounded after the Holocaust, there were at least 11 genocides after World War II, in addition to the three genocides before the Nazi Holocaust.

Never Again? Genocide Since the Holocaust. Films on Demand. 2001. Accessed October 31, 2020. https://ccco.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=151823&xtid=29047.

The Cambodian Experience [via Films on Demand]

If you get an error saying the video can’t be authenticated, use the link found in the title to view it.

Knowledge Check

Use the following ungraded, self-check questions to confirm your learning for this module.

References

Levinger, Michael. “Genocide: Lessons from the 20th Century.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed September 5, 2018. https://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/speakers-and-events/all-speakers-and-events/genocide-lessons-from-the-20th-century.

United Nations. “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” History Place. Accessed September 5, 2018. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/genocide-convention.htm.

United Nations. “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Paris, 9 December 1948.” UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. Accessed October 10, 2018. http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html.